DSCC maintains money edge on NRSC

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee outraised the National Republican Senatorial Committee by less than a million dollars in July, maintaining its steady financial advantage in the battle for control of the Senate.

The DSCC took in just under $3.4 million last month, a Democratic official said, bringing the committee’s year-to-date haul to $30.7 million. That compares with $2.6 million in July for the NRSC and a year-to-date total of $20.3 million, according to documents filed with the Senate.

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“Democratic opportunities in Georgia and Kentucky have our supporters fired up about winning new seats while protecting our great incumbents across the country,” he said. “It’s early in the cycle, but I’m thankful our supporters know what’s at stake and are giving generously to help us continue building our organization and push back against Mitch McConnell and the Republican attack machine.”

An NRSC representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Full cash on hand and debt figures were not immediately available for the committees, but the NRSC finished June with $7 million in the bank and $6.5 million in debts, while the DSCC had $9.6 million in hand and $11.25 million in debts.

There was relatively little paid campaign activity last month, so those numbers are not expected to have changed dramatically.

As the party that currently controls the majority in the Senate, Democrats have held at least a modest edge in the fundraising department for most of 2013. Republicans — not just in the Senate, but across the party — have expressed frustration that some of their party’s big donors are reluctant to open their wallets after what they perceived as a disastrous 2012 election cycle.

The Senate map currently appears narrowly divided, as Democrats strain to defend open seats in conservative South Dakota, West Virginia and Montana and to reelect vulnerable incumbents in Arkansas, Alaska, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Democrats, meanwhile, are attempting to play offense in Kentucky, where McConnell is up for reelection, and Georgia, where the retirement of GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss has resulted in an open-seat race.

Republicans must gain a net six seats to take control of the Senate, assuming that the New Jersey seat currently occupied by Republican placeholder Jeff Chiesa goes to Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker after a special election in October.